Pro wrestling was in the mainstream news again this week for all the wrong reasons.

The first instance was yet another death of a grappler connected with World Wrestling Entertainment, with Brian "Crush" Adams being found dead at his Tampa, Fla., home Monday morning at the age of 44.

Adams worked for WWE through most of the 1990s, starting as a member of the storied Demolition tag team before launching a singles career. He also had a three-year run in World Championship Wrestling, highlighted by stints in the New World Order and as a member of the marijuana-themed tag team Kronik with partner Bryan Clark.

As with the murder-suicide of WWE star Chris Benoit and his wife and 7-year-old son, Adams had a history with steroids. He was arrested in March 1995 on charges of illegal possession of steroids and weapons while living in Hawaii, which led to his WWE release. Adams was rehired after being sentenced to five years of probation, which WWE incorporated into a wrestling story line.

To put into perspective the high rate of fatalities among recent generations of wrestlers, Adams is the 10th of 45 performers who appeared on the Wrestlemania VII pay-per-view show in 1991 to die under the age of 50.

Results of Adams' initial autopsy didn't reveal a cause of death, and further tests will take weeks to complete. Foul play is not suspected.

The debut of suspended NFL cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Hard Justice pay-per-view show in Orlando, Fla., also generated negative headlines.

Jones has been arrested six times since the Tennessee Titans drafted him in 2005 and faces two pending felony counts, but TNA President Dixie Carter and executive/wrestler Jeff Jarrett have made rehabilitating Jones' image and career prospects a pet project.

"I felt like we would be a really good opportunity for him," Carter said backstage before Sunday's show. "I felt like the kind of company and people we are, that if we surrounded him during this time off (from the NFL) with this kind of environment, that we could do some great stuff together."

Jones was barred from any physical contact at Hard Justice after the Titans filed a last-minute court injunction, so TNA had Jones "injured" off camera backstage by an unknown attacker.

Jones will be a regular on TNA Impact (Thursdays, Spike TV) and pay-per- view shows through mid-October.

LIFE BEYOND WWE: Current and former WWE stars are branching into other forms of entertainment.

WWE diva Ashley Marrero will be part of the cast of Survivor: China, which premieres Sept. 20 on CBS. Lauren Jones, who had a brief stint with WWE as one of Marrero's contemporaries in 2005, is starring in the new reality-themed show Anchorwoman, which premieres Wednesday on Fox. Jones will try to make the transition from glamorous model to a lead newscaster at a television station in Tyler, Texas.

Matt "Rosey" Anoia is one of the cast members of Fat March (Mondays, ABC), which features 10 obese contestants trying to lose weight and earn prize money through a 570-mile walk from Boston to Washington. Best-known for being part of a comedic tag team with Shane "Hurricane" Helms before his WWE release in 2006, Anoia is hoping to drop enough bulk from his 6-foot-3, 386-pound frame to resume his grappling career.

Joanie "Chyna" Laurer, who has struggled with substance-abuse problems since her departure from WWE in 2001, also will try to better herself by appearing as a cast member on an upcoming VH1 show called Celebrity Rehab. Considering the industry's high mortality rate, VH1 should explore launching a similar show exclusively for pro wrestlers.

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